


Die Anywhere Else

by TheWritingMustache



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Prototype (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Childhood Friends, Established Relationship, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Multi, Night In the Woods - Alternate Universe, Small Towns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-10-28 19:10:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17793101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWritingMustache/pseuds/TheWritingMustache
Summary: I just wanna diiiie anywhere elseIf only I could diiiie anywhere elseSo come with me, let's diiiie anywhere elseAn-y-where... Just not here----Alex Mercer drops out of college and returns to his sleepy hometown of Possum Springs. But things aren't exactly the same as he left them. Things changed, and the people did too. He and his friends aren't kids anymore, and they're all finding out individually that adulting is hard. Oh, and Desmond Miles still hates him. Go figure.





	1. Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> hey it's ya boi with the night in the woods AU no one asked for but get anyway. Obvs this isn't gonna follow the EXACT plot of NITW, but it's....gonna be something!!!

It was 10:45, and his parents weren’t here yet. Which really meant they weren’t coming at all. Typical, just fucking typical. There was an abandonment joke somewhere in here, but even if Elizabeth was around to hear it, she’d probably cry anyway. He would call them, but there wasn’t a phone at the unmanned front desk, and the payphone’s receiver had been stolen who knows how long ago.

‘ _This_ ,’ Alex thought bitterly. ‘ _Is why I should have gotten a cellphone._ ’

For emergencies. Like being abandoned at the bus station. Alex stared at the ceiling, slouched against the wall on an uncomfortable wooden bench. There was no one around, and the bus had left thirty minutes ago. Truly, completely, alone. It fucking sucked balls.

The clock ticked over to 10:46, and with a sigh, Alex hefted himself up to his feet. Looks like he was walking home. In the cold. And the dark. Awesome, what a homecoming. He picked up his backpack, slung it on, and headed out the door. The parking lot was equally as empty, and fireflies buzzed lazily around the street lamps. He could hear the distant din of the highway, but other than, it was quiet. No one was coming.

Well, the last thing he wanted to do was walk along the highway, cause that was a one way ticket right to his grave. And as much of a death seeker he was, Alex didn’t want to spend his final moments crushed into someone’s engine.

“Guess I’ll walk through the woods,” he spoke out loud to himself. “Only thing that can kill me in there are bears, maybe.”

The night, the fireflies, and the asphalt did not disagree. His sneakers squeaked loudly against the pavement until his feet hit dirt, and Alex passed through the trees into the woods. It wasn’t that bad, really. He had done this walk a million times before, knew these woods like the back of his hands, as all Possum Springs kids did.

Crickets chirped loudly, then silenced as he walked past before resuming again. An owl hooted hauntingly. But Alex walked on uninterrupted. Eventually the ground began to dip down, and Alex merely slid down the embankment to the river. What was left of the river, anyway.

It had seen better years, more like a trickling stream now at the foot of the riverbed. It was maybe a foot deep in the middle, and had trash and logs on its banks. Alex recognized some Food Donkey shopping carts piled next to the water, which was surprising cause they were on the complete opposite side of town from the grocery store. Someone must have been very dedicated to getting these here.

A toad croaked loudly as Alex crossed over the water, and he found himself face to face with a giant pile of logs that were spilling down from the top of the embankment. The logs were cut very uniformly, probably leftovers from the old sawmill nearby. But the way Alex saw it, these logs were his ticket out of here.

“Gonna have to climb up,” he mused to the open air. “If it doesn’t work, maybe they’ll find me buried under all these in a few years. Maybe.”

He could only imagine, his squashed corpse slowly rotting away with the logs. He’d be one with nature, with mushrooms growing out of his eyes, and a raccoon eating his liver. Maybe the coyotes would find him, and steal his bones for their pups to play with. In a few years from now, they’d find whatever was left of him, and his dumb parents would feel bad cause they forgot to pick up their poor dumbass from the bus station, and he died trying to get home. Then they’ll take his skull and display it on the mantelpiece, to remind themselves of what terrible parents they were. They’d take his skull to seminars on what happens when you abandon your kid like they did.

It would be _tragic_. 

With a running start, Alex leapt onto the first log, and began his careful ascent. The logs creaked and groaned under his weight, but he persisted. A log shook under his feet as he climbed on it, and to his dismay, he realized the next one was just out of reach.

‘ _Maybe I can jump it,_ ’ he thought. Taking the risk, Alex leapt up for it- But couldn’t even reach and landed back down the shaking log. Which was just enough force to get things moving, as the log snapped in half under him, and the whole pile avalanched down further into the riverbed, taking Alex with it.

The next thing he knew, he felt to a hard stop in the mud. Stunned, all he could think was ‘ _Holy shit I almost really did die there….Fucking awesome._ ’

Once he recovered his breath, Alex picked himself back up. His whole backside, and his backpack, was slick and covered in mud. But, a better path had been made from all the logs falling, so who was the real winner here?

“Alex J. Mercer, you’ve done it again,” he congratulated himself as he began a second climb up. Thankfully this one went much smoother, and he was finally out of the river. It was a short walk into the woods until he was spat out at the edge of the old playground.

He hadn’t been here in years, not since he was really young. Most of the equipment as gone, the swings and teeter totter having vanished years ago. All that was left was a rotting “boat”, it’s steering wheel still in place, as was the tower sticking out of it.

“Wow,” Alex gasped softly as he walked up to it. He remembered as a kid that climbing up onto the boat was like scaling a mountain, but now it only reached his shoulders. With little effort, he climbed on, and now standing next to the steering wheel, it only came up to his waist. He recalled this being a lot bigger when he was a kid.

Granted, he was a really tiny kid back in the day, the last of his classmates to hit a growth spurt. It was the summer between junior and senior year that he went from 5’2 to 5’10, and that was painful as all _fuck_ to go through.

But now the playground was practically miniscule in comparison, and the ghost of Alex from ten years ago was intensely jealous.

‘ _Better keep moving._ ’

Jumping off the boat, Alex walked on until he hit chain link fence. Piece of cake. He took his backpack off and tossed it over the fence. Then, using a telephone pole right next to it for balance, Alex started to climb over. He was at the top of the fence, about to jump, when the headlights of a police car flooded his vision. Surprised, he jumped too early, his foot snagging on the fence, and he fell flat on his face.

“ _Alex,_ ” came the disappointed sigh of Officer James Heller. “What are you doing?”

“Nunyabizzness,” Alex muttered into the ground. He rolled over to look up at the officer. Heller looked about the same as he remembered, even frowned the same way too. A special frown, reserved only for someone like him. Actually, just him in particular, cause Heller was _never_ happy to see him.

“Not supposed to be in there,” Heller said simply.

“Bite me,” Alex sneered, and Heller sighed again.

“Arlight, get in the car,” Heller ordered.

“ _No_.”

“Oh, you want to spend your first night back in jail then?”

“.... _No_.”

So Alex got up and did as he was told.

**X-x-X-x-X**

“I demand a lawyer!” Alex cried as he kicked the back of the front seat.

“Alex, can you not?” Heller groaned.

“You can’t make me say anything! I reserve the right to remain quiet!”

“Then _please_ do.”

“This is some nice leather back here, Jim.”

“Yeah, it’s brand new.”

“Yeah, and it’s got mud all over it now. But that wasn’t on purpose.”

Heller sighed. A long sigh. A deep, long, done-with-this-bullshit sigh. Alex couldn’t possibly fathom as to why that would be.

“Come on man, have some sympathy for me. I’m an orphan ya know.”

“If only,” Heller muttered.

“Hey, what you say about me can and _will_ be used against you in court!” Alex warned him.

“You went all the to college and didn’t learn a lick of law,” Heller shook his head. “The hell they teaching ya over there.”

“How to piss off conservative uncles at Christmas,” Alex replied. Heller laughed as they pulled up in front of Alex’s house.

“Get out, Alex.”

“Awww, you don’t wanna walk me to the front door? In handcuffs? For old time’s sakes?”

“Get _out_ , Alex.”

“Okay, okaaaaay!” Alex growled as he grabbed his bag and popped the door open. “Thanks for the lift, I guess.”

“Next time’s the station,” Heller drawled. Alex sneered gleefully, then jumped out the car and slammed the door shut. Heller didn’t drive away until Alex unlocked the door and let himself inside.

**X-x-X-x-X**

“HEY REMEMBER ME?!”

“Aagh!” Robert screamed as he all but leapt out of his skin. He looked up at Alex with wide eyes, then leaned back into the couch with a groan. “Alex, you scared the crap out of me!”

“Good,” Alex snarled.

“Alex, what the hell are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be-.... _Oh_. Was that tonight?”

“The hell do you think, _Rob_?”

Robert buried his face into his hands. Alex hovered over him in quiet, but barely suppressed rage.

“Sorry kiddo, we thought it was tomorrow night,” Robert apologized. His father finally looked up at him properly, and his brows knitted together in worry. “What happened to _you_?”

“I walked myself home through the woods,” Alex explained. “Got a little wet, no big deal. Officer Hell’s Bells picked me up along the way.”

“Alex, you’re filthy!”

“Yeah well, that’s why they invented showers. Which I’m gonna go take. Then I’m going to bed. Ya know, granted you didn’t forget that too!”

“Okay okay, just stop yelling,” Robert hushed him. “Your mother’s trying to sleep, and she’ll be extra sore with you if you track mud all over the house.”

“Whatever,” Alex huffed and stomped away from him. At the foot of the stairs, Alex ripped his shoes off and tossed them by the front door, then ran up the stairs, the steps squeaking loudly as he did. Robert’s sigh followed him up. He could die mad about it for all Alex cared.

It was dark on the second floor, the only light barely flooding in from downstairs, as a hallway night light that was lit blue by Granddad’s clock. Alex paused on the landing between flights of stairs, glancing down the short hall to the door to his parent’s bedroom. The door didn’t open, and he didn’t hear anyone coming. Satisfied that Elizabeth was fully asleep and not coming to harass him, Alex continued up the stairs to his bedroom.

It looked the exact same as he left it from Christmas ten months ago, the last time he was (briefly) home. Still barren, considering most of his belongings were back at his dorm room...Which he supposed he’d have to go back for at some point. His bed was made up, at least. Elizabeth must have put on fresh sheets this morning for him, for tomorrow night. Despite only being a whole floor away from her, it made Alex miss his mother terribly. _Gross_.

Ripping his bag open, Alex pulled out his pajamas and a fresh pair of undies, then he headed back down the stairs to the bathroom. He was really starting to feel that fall now, and the cold that seeped through his bones and into his skin. He was so glad that he could come home like this, a muddy, half drowned trash mammal from right off the street. Almost couldn’t believe he ditched school for this.

But he had done way worse before.


	2. Bring It Around Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex makes his grand reappearance in Possum Springs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi hello i sat on this for two weeks cause i was v busy and i'm splitting this up into two chapters cause!!! i just!! wanna give it to you guys!! ok i love u thank u

The next morning, Alex awoke with a start. Went from completely flat to half out of bed, hand reaching out to smack at an alarm clock that wasn’t there. It took him a very long minute to realize that he wasn’t in his dorm, he wasn’t going to class, and he certainly wasn’t late for anything. He was home, in his bedroom, in his actual bed. Back in Possum Springs. Cause he had dropped out of school yesterday. Right. 

With a groan, Alex flopped back into bed and closed his eyes. He laid there for a few more minutes before finally giving in and got up for real. Even if he didn’t have a class to run off to right now, he was way too in the habit of waking up at a very specific time, and even being home wasn’t gonna change that. His joints popped and cracked, and he felt like a decrepit old man. His back felt super sore from landing on it last night. Wasn’t the worst injury he had ever sustained though.

The sun shone brightly outside, the light falling in through his window between the cracks of his blinds. He walked over and opened up the blinds proper, sunlight now pouring in. Alex blinked against the harsh light for a few moments as his eyes adjusted. Outside his window, the neighborhood looked exactly the same as when he left it two whole years ago.

Humming to himself, Alex shuffled down to the second floor, to throw a wicked piss into the bathroom, then continued on to the ground floor. At the foot of the stairs, he could hear the sink and the clanking of dishes. But not even that was enough to hide his presence, because a moment later he heard-

“Alex, is that you?” Echo from the kitchen. Busted, he guessed. Ten whole steps brought Alex to the kitchen, and there at the sink, was Elizabeth. She still looked as young and as pretty as ever, but it still took him by surprise to see more gray in her shock of orange hair, and a few more wrinkles clinging to the corner of her eyes and mouth. It made him wonder when his mother got so old.

“Hey Liz,” Alex greeted her, nonchalantly.

“My baby!” She cooed, dropping the cup she washing to step over and wrap him up in a big hug. “My baby is home!”

“Sure is,” Alex agreed. Elizabeth reached up and planted a huge kiss on his cheek. He wondered when she got so small. Or maybe, she was always small and he never noticed.

“Daddy told me you walked through the woods last night,” she said, frowning as she pulled back from him. “Are you okay, did you get hurt?”

“I’m fine, Liz,” he assured her. “Just a little mud is all.”

“A little?” She quirked a brow at him. “Uhm, you have more than a little mud to clean up, mister!”

“Me?” Alex asked, not even bothering to try and defend himself. Cause really, she had no fucking idea. If she knew what was good for her, she wouldn’t go look in his bathroom. Elizabeth fixed him with a stern, disapproving look...That quickly melted into a warm smile as she reached back to hug and kiss him again. Even at twenty, he just couldn’t do any wrong in her eyes, could he?

“Are you hungry? I just washed the pan, but I can make you something,” she offered.

“Nooo, I’ll just have some cereal, it’s okay,” he shook his head. “Just, don’t worry about me.”

“I’m sorry honey,” she apologized, letting him go and stepping back over to the sink. “I’m sorry we weren’t there last night. It was just so sudden, ya know? And I wish you had called us…”

“Would have if I could,” Alex said as he pulled open the fridge to grab the milk. “But see, there’s these things called uh, cellphones, and maybe if I had one-”

“Oh not this again!” Elizabeth laughed. “Ya know, Daddy and I were thinking about it, as a Christmas present-”

“Nice-”

“-If you had gotten good grades for the semester.”

“...Fucking not nice.”

“Language, mister!”

“Sorrryyy...Uh, I had good grades last I checked if that’s any consolation?”

Elizabeth gave him a Look that only got deeper and harder the moment he flashed one of his shit-eating grins at her. No one was better at sniffing out a lie from him than Elizabeth Greene-Cross. She knew him better than he knew himself, one of her many freaky mom superpowers. He looked away and continued on with fixing up his bowl of cereal.

“What the hell are Hammie-O’s?” He asked, pulling the box of cereal out from the cupboard.

“Oh, they’re really good!”

“Where’d you get them?”

“Ham Panther.”

“We have a Ham Panther?”

“Yep, moved in shortly after the Food Donkey closed down.”

“....The Food Donkey closed?!”

“Huh? Yeah, it closed down last spring, I thought you knew that?”

“No???? I don’t remember this at all??”

His mind jumped back to the riverbed from last night, and the Food Donkey carts that were laying down there. He had walked past actual relics and didn’t even know it. Alex knew he had memory problems, but he didn’t think they were that bad. He had zero recollection of ever hearing about it, even when he had come home for Christmas.

“Well what the hell else has happened?” He asked, popping the box open and pouring cereal into a bowl.

“Hmmmm, we-ell...Oh, Mrs. Chrangler died not too long ago.”

“Who?”

“Eda Chrangler? She taught you piano in elementary school?”

“Oh….Oh, right! Man, it’s about time, she was like, ancient.”

“Oh honey, she was ancient even when I was a little girl.”

“How old even was she?”

“A hundred and fifteen.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Languaaaage~”

“Whatever, sorry. Is that all?”

“All I can think of,” Elizabeth shrugged. Alex was at the kitchen table now, and he spooned Hammie-O’s into his mouth as his mother continued to wash the last of the dishes. The sat in comfortable silence until Elizabeth finally switched the sink off and started drying her hands.

“I have work in a bit, honey,” she said. “If you go anywhere today, I want that mud cleaned up before you do.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded. “Dunno what I was gonna do anyway.”

“Well, have you talked to any of your friends yet?” Elizabeth asked. “I bet Clay would be happy to see you. I say hi for you everytime I go to the Snack Falcon.”

“We have a Snack Falcon now?!”

“Just think about it,” she winked and walked out of the room to get ready for work. Alex stared down into his bowl in shock. Was there anything else she was failing to mention to him?

**X-x-X-x-X**

So like any sensible twenty year old, as soon as Alex finished breakfast, he trudged back upstairs and fell back to sleep for a couple more hours. It was closer to four in the afternoon when he finally awoke, and got dressed, and left the house. The tracks of the mud leading from the front door to the stairs stayed where they were, he’d get to that when he felt like it. His muddied sneakers he just tossed outside by the door, another problem for future!Alex.

Cars motered by on the road, and a gaggle of kids with backpacks ran past. Only a few houses down was a construction crew on the road. Which, seemed about right, it wouldn’t be fall in Possum Springs without some sort of construction going on, trying to get in before the snowy season. Standing there on at his front door felt very surreal. It almost felt like a normal day back from when he was a kid. He could picture himself now, scrawny and knobby kneed, coming up the sidewalk with his hair draped over his face, and his thin frame wrapped up in a dark colored sweater.

The phantom of his younger self disappeared, and Alex, all grown up presently, took the first step down the path to the sidewalk and headed towards town. After a block, the road began to slope up, and he could already feel the muscles in his legs protesting. He used to do this walk almost every single day up the hill, hell, just about anyone in town knew it well. It only took two and a half short years for him to forget how it felt.

He supposed though, that he now had all the time in the world to get reacquainted with his old walks. Folk were walking up and down the street with him, either on their way home from work or just ambling along. No one he immediately recognized, and no one who bothered to stop and say hello either.

Alex paused in front of a tall, brick building halfway up the top of the hill. Now called Applebaum Flats, it used to be the original town library, but it posed as housing for apartments. How that worked out the way it did was anyone’s guess.

Last he came by here, he had bumped into Desmond Miles going up. He wondered if he still lived up there with his parents, or if he had gotten the right idea and moved on with his life away from Possum Springs. Worried that Desmond would suddenly appear and see him standing there, Alex moved on. That was the last person he wanted to see right now anyway.

Which didn’t get better as he crested the hill and realized he was dangerously close to Desmond’s family business, the Ol’ Pickaxe. Desperate to avoid any confrontation, Alex ducked into the trolley tunnel by the stairs leading up to the church grounds

The musty smell of old rainwater and stone hit him immediately, and it took his eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness. The tunnel ran throughout the whole town, leftover from the extensive mining. It was converted to an underground trolley line at some point, but that had been practically a century ago now. Much of the tunnel was blocked up, the tracks drowning underneath a few feet of water, with the trolley cars themselves still in place as hulking, metal husks.

The only reason anyone came down here was to use it as a shortcut, and for the old folk, the pierogi stand that had been converted from a newsstand. The food down here wasn’t actually too bad, not the best, but it was passable, much like everywhere else in this godforsaken town.

“Hey there!” Alex called out as he approached the counter. “Just got back into town, and man, could I use a good old fashioned Possum Springs pier-”

“HEY!” the man behind the counter shouted at him. “I know you!”

“Uhh, well heeeey-”

“ _Thief!_ ”

“Oh come _on_ , man!” Alex protested. “That was like, a decade ago! I was a kid!”

“Once a thief, always a thief,” the man growled at him. “Lifetime ban means lifetime ban. Now get outta here before I call the cops!”

“Whatever man!” Alex threw his hands up and stomped away, throwing the pierogi man a middle finger over his shoulder. “Your food SUCKS anyway!”

Grumbling to himself, Alex shoved his hands into his pockets and kept going, past the town mural, and back up the stairs at the opposite side of the tunnel. He emerged back into the late afternoon sunlight, right by the local bar. And to his surprise, on the same block as the Snack Falcon.

It was jarring to see something so modern and new in town, with its bright colors and flashing lights. There had been a Snack Falcon a block away from his college campus, and many students hoofed it to and from the store for their cheap snacks between classes. But Possum Springs wasn’t some fresh college town. How the hell was something like the Snack Falcon supposed to stay in business?

A bell jingled above the door as Alex walked in, and he passed the rows of shelves to the counter to harass the cashier, Clay Kaczmarek. Blonde, blue eyed with a crazy glint that rivaled even Alex’s. A lopsided grin that stretched out when Alex walked up to him.

“Oh _shit_ ,” Clay muttered.

“Hey, remember me?” Alex sneered.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m back.”

“What, for the weekend?”

“Nah, for good.”

“Like, forever good?”

“Yeah, forever and ever.”

Clay screamed in delighted shock. Alex held his arm out, and Clay grasped it by the elbow.

“Too bad you didn’t die at college,” Clay teased.

“Too bad you didn’t die of the plague,” Alex countered back without hesitation.

“Too bad the school didn’t explode with you in it.”

“Too bad you didn’t fall in a sinkhole.”

“Ahhhhhh!” Clay screamed again. “Ohmygod, holy _shit_ , you’re back!”

“No getting rid of me now,” Alex grinned.

“Dude, you GOTTA come to band practice!”

“The band’s still together?” Alex blinked in surprise.

“Yeah!”

“Ok shit well, when’s practice?”

“Uhhh,” Clay pulled a smartphone out from his pocket and unlocked the home screen. Alex was jealous. “Uhhh, right now!” Clay said.

“Like, _now_ now?”

“Yeah!!!”

**x-X-x-X-x**

The Party Barn was, or, at least had been, a well...Well it was hard to describe. It had been part venue for rent, part party supplies, part...Barn? It never really made sense, and it was amazing that it had stayed in business as long as it had. All that was left inside was leftover decorations, and the main stage. The stage was covered in equipment- Mics, stands, speakers, and oodles of cables. It was a step up from Clay’s garage, at the very least.

“Alex~” Lucy cooed at him, wrapping him up in a hug. “It’s great to see you!”

“Jesus, you’re still here?” Alex said as he hugged her back. “Don’t tell me this idiot has bound you to this realm of existence permanently,” and he checked her hands for a wedding ring.

“Not yet,” Lucy laughed. “Dating by itself is enough of a hassle.”

Alex smirked at that. Lucy Stillman was one of those girls that was just honestly Too Good for this backwater town. She was super smart, the best grades of anyone in their age group, graduated valedictorian, had won oodles of awards for high school level competitions in the sciences. If anyone had deserved to go to college and become like, a rocket scientists or some shit, it was her.

But she was still here, in Possum Springs, still dating local disaster of a person, Clay. And as much as Alex loved Clay dearly, even he knew that Lucy could do better.

“Are you visiting right now?” Lucy asked. “How’s school been?”

“Shitty, so I left.” Alex replied.

“Left?” She echoed.

“Yeah, I dropped out, so I’m like, back forever now.”

“You did?!”

“I still have your old bass!” Clay called from where he was, rummaging around under the stage.

“Oh god, I barely remember how to play,” Alex whined. “You should have just trashed it, man.”

“Naw man, it’s great!” Clay called back. “You can go back to playing for us again!”

“Well what were you doing without me then?”

“Hey Desmond,” Lucy waved past him. “Look who’s here.”

Alex felt the blood in his veins run cold. He whipped around to come face to face with Desmond Miles, the actual last person he ever wanted to see right now. Tall, tanned, and handsome was the best way to describe him. Still had his boyish good looks with some dark curls hugging his upper lip and chin. It was clear he hadn’t shaved in a while. Desmond stared at him, lips only slightly curled down. He looked confused? And a little mad? Whatever emotion he was having, Alex was totally feeling it.

“Wow,” Alex said. “Hey...Hey there.”

“Hello,” Desmond replied cooly. “What are you doing here?”

“He’s back!!!!” Clay answered for him, crawling out from under the stage with the case of Alex’s bass in hand.

“Okay but what are you doing _here_ for?” Desmond asked.

“Band practice?” Alex shrugged. “I guess? What are _you_ doing here?”

“Band practice,” and Desmond held up the laptop in his hands that Alex had failed to notice earlier.

“I don’t think Garageband counts as an instrument,” Alex sneered.

“Desmond plays drums for us,” Lucy spoke up. “And your bass parts.”

“You replaced me ‘n Bex with a computer,” Alex whined accusingly.

“But you’re here now!” Clay said happily and shoved the case into Alex’s hands. “Let’s practice!”

Both Alex and Desmond sighed at the same time, and then stared at each other in mutual hate.


End file.
